***********************UpdateA big thank you to everyone who supported Vision Aid Overseas by making a donation at the Optician Awards. Thank you so much for your support!Come on the IronMan Team!************************Please support the Optician UK IronMan 70.3 Team and help raise money for Vision Aid Overseas. We are calling on all optical professional and others working in the optical industry to make a donation to help the world to see. The more people who donate, the more lives Vision Aid Overseas can transform with eye care and spectacles!Optician Magazine has assembled a team of seven optical athletes to take part in the 2008 UK IronMan 70.3 to raise funds for Vision Aid Overseas. The team faces one of the toughest physical challenges competed in Great Britain: - a 1.2 mile swim in the cool waters of Wimbleball Lake; - 56 miles of gruelling cycling across the hills of Exmoor; - and finally an entire half marathon (13.1 miles!) off-road across the moors! They are competing both as a personal challenge and to raise funds for optical charity Vision Aid Overseas, who are dedicated to people in the developing world whose lives are blighted by poor eyesight.300 million people in the developing world need spectacles to live an ordinary life but do not have them due to poverty and the lack of optical services. The World Health Organisation has acknowledged this as the leading cause of avoidable visual impairment. Many people who are functionally blind simply need spectacles to see. Without them children fail at school, mothers and fathers have to stop working and elderly people are forced to live without dignity. The consequences for individuals and their communities can be devastating.The athletes are putting their bodies on the line for Vision Aid Overseas. Please dig deep and make a donation to support their effort, the work of hundreds of VAO volunteers from all over the UK who work on overseas projects for free and for the millions of people who only need spectacles to live an ordinary life. You can also follow the team's progress by visiting their blog:http://oakleytransitionsironmanteam.blogspot.com/ Thank you very much for your support.
